Babar Suleman and son Haris, 17, prepare for their around-the-world flight June 19 in Greenwood, Ind. They had a goal of circling the globe in 30 days. Their plane went down after takeoff from Pago Pago.

Photo: Robert Scheer, Associated Press

Babar Suleman and son Haris, 17, prepare for their around-the-world...

His pilot's license fresh in his hands, an Indiana teenager set out in June for the adventure of a lifetime: an around-the-world flight with his father designed to break records and raise money to build schools in his father's native Pakistan.

Just days before the father and son were to return home to Indiana, the trip turned tragic when their plane crashed in the Pacific Ocean shortly after leaving Pago Pago in American Samoa on Tuesday night. The body of 17-year-old Haris Suleman was recovered, but crews were still searching Wednesday for the father, Babar Suleman.

The Sulemans left the state on June 19 in hopes of setting the record for the fastest circumnavigation around the world in a single-engine airplane. They planned to return home Sunday, which would have put them five days behind schedule for their aimed time of 30 days, but still in the running to set a Guinness World Record for the youngest pilot to complete a circumnavigation in a single-engine aircraft, according to London's Daily Mail.

For more than a month, the trip was everything they'd hoped for, with visits to the pyramids and rides on camels in Egypt, a family reunion in Pakistan and much more. Even food poisoning and delays that meant they wouldn't complete the trip in their intended 30 days couldn't dilute the teen's enthusiasm as he saw Europe, Africa, Asia and the South Pacific.

"There is so much beauty and culture in each country that I couldn't possibly witness all that I want to," Haris Suleman told The Indianapolis Star in an e-mail recently.

The father and son were documenting their journey on social media, and the 17-year-old posted a series of tragic tweets hours before his death.

The trip was raising money for the Citizens Foundation, a nonprofit that builds schools in Pakistan. The organization has built 1,000 schools for boys and girls in Pakistan, and the Sulemans had raised about $500,000.